


A father always takes care of his sons

by Multifandom_damnation



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Cisco Ramon Needs A Hug, Divergent Timelines, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Episode: s01e20 The Trap, Father Figures, Father-Son Relationship, Gen, Good Parent Joe West, Minor Eobard Thawne | Harrison Wells, Protective Joe West, Self-Sacrifice, Team as Family, Temporary Character Death, Visions in dreams
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-13
Updated: 2019-01-13
Packaged: 2019-10-09 07:36:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,730
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17402732
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Multifandom_damnation/pseuds/Multifandom_damnation
Summary: When Cisco died the first time, in the timeline Barry erased, alone and scared at the literal hands of his mentor, the man he looked up to for all his life, Joe wasn't there when he was needed most.But the second time, when Cisco is voluntarily risking his life for Barry with nothing to go on but evidence of his ultimate demise from his dreams and Barry's desperate insistence for Cisco's help, Joe is going to do what is needed, no matter the cost.





	A father always takes care of his sons

**Author's Note:**

> I feel like Joe would have had a more verbal reaction for Cisco's near death experience, something more than him shooting three bullets into Cisco's would-be-murder-that-was-harmless, so I thought I'd write something a little to bring that to life. Because let's be fair- Barry had no care in the world about how Cisco felt when he stood on that platform, thinking he was about to die again. Also, I love that scene where Cisco goes back into his dream and wakes up screaming. A++.
> 
> I hope you like it and it isn't a steaming pile of shit x

Joe wasn’t there for him, the first time, when Cisco had been alone and afraid after he snooped around for answers to Joe’s claims, and received a hand through his heart for his troubles, leaving him broken and alone on the floor of the Containment Room.

Later, as they stand together in Barry’s lap in the CCPD, all staring at the corkboard that houses the evidence of Doctor Wells’ lies, Cisco steps forward and speaks up, claiming the dreams he’s been having are more real than imaginary and that Doctor Wells finds him and kills him where he stands- without mercy.

Afterwards, when they convince him to lay down on a medical table and travel back in time to the moment he was killed, Joe can’t help question the morality of their plan. He tries to make Cisco as comfortable as he can, passing him a glass of milk like he used to for Iris and Barry when they couldn’t sleep, and though it doesn’t really do anything and Cisco originally complains, it seems to make him a little calmer.

He even makes Joe laugh in an effort to break the tension, making comments about his favourite shirt and its death-by-dryer and the fright Joe feels for Cisco’s expense lessens for a moment and he has to cover his mouth to laugh.

But then Cisco reveals that ‘Doctor Wells’ is actually Eobard Thawne, the real murderer of Nora Allen, who went to their home to kill Barry so he could never become the Flash and how Cisco was like a son to him, how he enjoyed working with him all the years, how he’s been dead for centuries.

It breaks Joe’s heart to see Cisco so afraid, recounting the exact moment he died and the scream he let out until Caitlin brings him out of it, rubbing his back as he trembles in the aftershocks. Joe can tell that Cisco is crying as he hides his face in his hands and rubs at his cheeks. Joe is so worried about him that he almost doesn’t notice Barry getting a phone call, Doctor Wells calmly calling.

Cisco shakes for hours afterwards and hell, Joe hasn’t seen him for days so he might have been crying alone at home, buried under his covers and trying not to socialise with the outside world until he absolutely has to.

Barry’s plan to recreate the scenario that gets Cisco killed in the first place is enough to set Joe on edge, even more so the fact that Cisco agrees to it willingly- almost like he’s embracing the death which should have happened but never did.

It’s obvious to Joe the entire time that Cisco is nervous and afraid- it takes all his resolve not to abandon the mission and get Cisco out of danger, but Barry says they need to wait so Joe bites his lip and _waits_.

But it all goes wrong- Cisco repeats the speech from his dream, and backs up into the containment trap that they had made so long ago, but instead of being prevented from passing, Wells just passes straight through and raises his hand to Cisco’s chest.

Even from where he’s sitting from behind a pile of crates and equipment, Joe can see the panic in Cisco’s face- the rapid breathing and wide, frightened eyes tells Joe all he needs to know. He doesn’t even care about a confession- he can’t let Cisco die again if there is something he could do about it.

He can’t hear Barry shouting- he fires off three rounds and watches them go flying towards Wells. Barry catches two but the third embeds itself in Wells’ chest and he falls to the floor.

It turns out not to be Wells at all but a poor meta Wells had convinced to die for him. Joe doesn’t even care- he’s too busy watching Cisco shake out of the corner of his eye and listening to Wells admit over the speaker that Joe’s suspicions were right all along.

Barry corners him in the hallway with a hand on his arm and demands why Joe jeopardised their plan, regardless if he was really Wells or not, and Joe rips his arm from Barry’s grip with a disappointed shake of his head. “He was going to kill Cisco,” Joe says like it should have been obvious because it _is_ obvious.

“But he didn’t,” Barry insists, throwing his arms up into the air as if Joe has just personally offended him. “Cisco is fine and if you hadn’t shot him we could have at least figured out it was a trap before he died.”

There is a deep, burning feeling in his chest that tells him to punch Barry in the face, despite the man in front of him being his son, but he valiantly resits the impulse. “We don’t know that. We didn’t know it was Hanibbal Bates and not Well’s and that Cisco wouldn’t be killed. I understand you’re desperate to get a confession, Barry, but maybe think about the people you’re sacrificing along the way.” Joe storms his way through the hall in an attempt to find silence and solitude.

It is only just occurring to Joe that Barry’s desperate quest for revenge and to find proof of his father’s innocence is clouding his judgement and putting his friends and family to the back burner. Cisco, the friend who has helped Barry train and has been with him since the beginning of their journey, through thick and thin, almost died again today, and Barry has barely batted an eyelash. Maybe it is Joe- maybe he cares too much about this rag-tag family he has collected and he’s lost sight of their main objective.

But no- Joe isn’t a fool. Cisco is family and his death would have hurt just as much as Nora’s had, but this time Joe is just glad he was able to do something about it, even if Cisco wasn’t in any real danger and it had been a trap all along.

When it is all said and done and Eobard Thawne is dead, his essence scattered throughout the timeline and Eddie, his partner, Iris’s fiancé, is buried in the ground and his blood is wiped off of the floor of the Particle Accelerator and Henry is finally out of prison and- it’s quiet. Finally, quiet. He finds Cisco with his head buried in his work, in the room he can always be found in, a lollypop between his teeth. He smiles warmly when Joe knocks on the wall and pulls the sucker out of his mouth and onto a far corner of his workbench. “Hey, Joe. What can I do for you? Did your walkie-talkie stop working?”

“You know that’s not what it’s actually called.” Joe laughs as he slides a chair out from under the table and sits down opposite Cisco. “I actually wanted to thank you, for all the good work you did in trying to help Barry catch Eobard Thawne. You did a great job out there.”

“Thanks,” Cisco smiles shyly and places his hand on the back of his neck, threading his fingers through his hair. He looks at Joe with something similar to guilt or awe or shame or something else entirely and Joe is taken aback. “I uh, I actually wanted to thank you as well.”

“Thank me? I haven’t done anything worth thanking,” Joe sits back in his hair with his arms crossed against his chest and his head tilted inquisitively to the side. “Did I do amazing things in my sleep again or something?”

Cisco squeezes his hands tighter in his hair and winces, whether from the pain between his fingers or the regrettable conversation they are currently having. “No, nothing like that.” He trails off as if looking for an escape from the conversation. Joe waits patiently. “You saved my life when you shot Wells… Bates, I mean. Sorry…” Joe sits quietly as he watches Cisco ramble and scrambles to get his thoughts in order. “You shot Hannibal Bates for me because you thought it was Thawne about to… kill me… I mean, I thought it too but…” Cisco pauses, a frown in the crease of his brow and the narrowing of his eyes. “Thank you for making sure I got out of that alive, even though I wasn’t in any real danger.”

“But we didn’t know it wasn’t Wells,” Joe sits forward and reaches out so he can put his hand firmly on Cisco’s arm. “We didn’t know there wasn’t any danger, and I wasn’t about to lose you… again. Especially not the same way you died the first time. I wasn’t there for that, none of us was, but I’d be damned if I let it happen again, no matter how much Barry ruined the timeline. And you know what?” Joe shakes Cisco’s arm when he turns his head away to return his attention back to his words. “I’d do it all again, Cisco. I wouldn’t even hesitate to protect you again, because when my kids are in danger, there is nothing I wouldn’t do to get them out of it.”

Sniffling, Cisco nods and drops his eyes down to his shoes, laces untied and leaving trails of dirt across the sterile ground. “Thanks, Joe,” he whispers, voice thick with unshed tears and puts the lollypop back in his mouth. Joe smiles and stands, placing a kiss on Cisco’s crown before leaving him alone in the room with his thoughts and his toys.

Maybe, Joe wonders as he prowls the halls and watches his new family in the place he has now considered a second home, maybe he cares about them all in their own special ways. Maybe if he was more detached from their home lives he would be able to live his life normally. But no- he cares too much, and when he watches Cisco on the security cameras with his chin on his chest and his hands in his lap, Joe realizes that there is absolutely nothing he wouldn’t do for his children.

Even the ones he found through the circumstances of science and speed and pain.

Joe continues his walk through the halls of S.T.A.R Labs to re-join his family in the Cortex and plan their next move now that their lives have been repaired.


End file.
